Leaf humus is most often used to fertilize agricultural crops. But this nutritious fertilizer can be made not only from leaves. It is also important to store it properly so that it does not lose nutrients.
What is humus?
Humus - what is it? Inexperienced summer residents often ask such questions. Humus is a fertilizer of organic origin. With its help, you can saturate poor soil with all the microelements necessary for the growth and development of plants.Humus is easy to make with your own hands. All the ingredients necessary for this can be found in any farmstead.
What does it consist of?
Before preparing humus at home, you need to find out what is included in its composition. The composition of humus, as a rule, includes the following components:
- Leaves.
- Cattle manure.
- Bird droppings.
- Straw.
- Hay.
- Weeds from the site.
- Ash.
- Leftover fruits and vegetables.
- Bark.
- Wood sawdust.
- Special additives to accelerate plant growth.
- Branches of trees and bushes.
We can say that the humus can include all parts of plants that grew on the site, as well as cattle manure. This is especially convenient for those summer residents who are also involved in agriculture.
How to do it yourself?
Grass and leaves are the basis for fertilizer. But this alone will not be enough. You also cannot do without bird droppings and cattle manure. Otherwise, instead of nutritious fertilizer, you can end up with silage or rotten grass, which does not provide any benefit to the plants.
What cannot be used for processing into humus:
- Chemical agent.
- Infected parts of plants.
- Food of animal origin.
- Weed seeds.
If cattle manure is used, the animals must be healthy. Not all waste that is intended for disposal can be used to prepare humus at home.
How to get humus?
In order to obtain high-quality humus prepared at home, you need to know exactly in what sequence to place the layers.
- Plants. The first layer is the remains of plants. It should be no more than 15 cm. If this layer is larger, the rotting process will be slower. All parts of the grass can be used except the seeds.Otherwise, they may germinate and then you will have to fight weeds. The first layer of grass should be sprinkled with earth mixed with lime.
- Straw and hay. Thanks to straw, the deciduous and all other layers are saturated with oxygen. Straw creates a porous structure and binds moisture into humus. Before laying out hay or straw, it must be thoroughly chopped. Mulching with humus with the addition of hay will ensure access of oxygen to the roots of plants.
- Leaves. The leaves need to be dried before preparing humus with your own hands. If this is not done, they will clump together. Mix the leaves with other plant residues and spread them in a thin layer.
- Sawdust. To prepare humus in the country, you can use sawdust. But they decompose poorly, so before laying them they are mixed with grass and bone meal.
- Tree bark. Tree bark contains large amounts of nitrogen. But in order to increase its concentration in the compost, it is necessary to mix the bark with chicken manure, cattle manure or urea.
How to make humus?
At home, you can get humus from the following components:
- Food waste. The preparation of humus is not complete without food waste. They contain many nutrients. But to prevent their decomposition, the waste is mixed with solid material to provide oxygen.
- Manure and droppings. Manure produces the most nutritious humus for plants. It contains a large amount of nitrogen, which helps accelerate the growth of crops. It is advisable to sprinkle soil on top.
- Paper.Before laying paper when preparing manure with your own hands, it must be coarsely cut and soaked in a decoction of herbs. A herbal decoction can be prepared from nettle. Nettle contains a lot of nutrients, and the paper will absorb them during the soaking process. You need to mix wet paper with other solid material. Otherwise it will crumple.
How to prepare humus from manure?
Many summer residents are interested in the question of humus and where to get it. You can prepare it at home with your own hands. The most common type of humus is based on cattle manure. Sheep, cow or horse manure is suitable.
Prepare humus as follows:
- Manure for humus must be taken fresh. It contains more nutrients.
- Make a box and put coarsely chopped grass on the bottom. Then you can lay out the straw. This way the humus will be saturated with oxygen.
- Then spread manure (you can use chicken manure).
- In order to speed up decomposition, biodestructors can be added to humus. It could be Baikal-M or Siyanie. They contain bacteria, which accelerate the decay process.
- The humus should be watered regularly (but not flooded). It is important not to let it dry out.
You can use humus when it is impossible to see individual parts. The mixture should be of uniform consistency. The smell of the finished humus should be like that of wet soil. And the color is brown or closer to black.
How to quickly make humus from leaves?
Leaf humus is also prepared with the addition of manure. You can use straw, paper and other plant debris.
Leaf humus is prepared as follows:
- You can use any leaves of deciduous trees.If shrubs or fruit trees grow on the site, then fallen leaves are used.
- Since the leaves are poor in micronutrients, they need to be mixed with food waste or sawdust.
- Place bird droppings on the foliage layer.
- The humus needs to be watered periodically. If a large number of midges appear above the box with humus, then this is a clear sign of high humidity. In order to get rid of them on a sunny day, the humus must be left open. When it dries a little, cover it back.
- If the humus does not change color and does not acquire the smell of wet earth, then it means it is overdried. You can correct the situation by adding water, potato peelings or fresh grass.
They mulch plants for the winter so that the roots do not freeze and the bushes do not die. Fertilizers made in this way can be stored in bags.
Where should I store it?
How to properly store humus prepared with your own hands so that it does not lose its beneficial properties? The best storage method is a box. How to make a box for humus?
Humus storage box:
- You can put together such a box from any unnecessary boards. You can pour sawdust into the bottom or leave the box without a bottom and immediately put humus in it.
- You can lay slate or greenhouse film over the container. The moisture that falls on the humus along with the rain should not accumulate in one place, but should flow into the ground.
- You should also remember that one of the walls of the box must extend. This will make it easier to collect humus to add to the soil.
- Humus can also be stored in bags, but you just need to make sure that it is not exposed to sunlight.
How to store?
What are the features of storing humus? First of all, the container with humus should not be placed in open sunlight.This way the fertilizer will begin to decompose and pathogenic microbes will begin to multiply in it.
It is important to maintain a constant temperature and humidity in the box. The soil and the humus itself should not be too wet, but should not dry out either.
It is not advisable to place containers with fertilizers near trees. Very soon, trees may direct their growth towards composters. And then all the nutrients will be used for their growth.
